Review

I was pleasantly surprised yesterday to find that I had a rare day off from both of my jobs where I’d also have the house to myself. The day became increasingly awesome upon my getting on the ‘net to find out that the recently announced installment of the DJ Fresh (alias The World’s Freshest) series The Tonite Show featuring Freddie Gibbs had dropped earlier in the morning, instead of on May 13th as originally promised. I also found 20 bucks in a jacket I never wear, but whatever man, new Gangsta Gibbs right? I didn’t expect this to be a particularly outstanding project- I figured it would be solid, but probably completely overshadowed by Piñata, which was a damn fine, if slightly disappointing record. I’ve found, however, in the past 28 or so hours of compulsively stanning on this latest Tonite Show, that this is the truly special project the hip-hop community deserved from Gibbs.

It’s easy to pick at Freddie’s lyrical shtick. He’s really all coke this and dope that, with some pussies and references to things most of his fans can’t even relate to thrown in for good measure. He’s an exceptionally gifted MC in terms of the three P’s: presence, pronunciation, and persona, and he can be very acutely lyrical when he wants to be, but he’s really more of a Pimp C rather than a Bun-B. Lyrically on The Tonite Show, Gibbs sounds way more within his comfort zone than he did on Piñata. It helps that he has a much better supporting cast this time around, features including, but not limited to, E-40, Sir Michael Rocks, and Trae the Truth. I mean, Freddie gonna do Freddie, but he switches it up now and then, discussing topics he doesn’t usually touch on, generally more lighthearted stuff, giving this EP a much more relaxing vibe than his usually grimy, thugged-out fare. “Keep It Gangsta” bounces an infectious hook (“Just keep it gangsta mane, and we gon’ be straight”) around some dicey horns and groupie “ooohs,” Gibbs and Fresh’s best homage to Makaveli. “On Me,” which features Problem, was previously released on 2012’s Baby Face Killa, but hardly sounds out of place or dated amongst the other offerings. “Pussy Got Slap” is every bit as offensive as “Go For It” was, with E-40 referring to vaginas as “slop” and Freddie talking about liquoring up trust fund bitches just for shits and giggles. DJ Fresh just slams drunk after drunk with the production on this EP. The sound is spacey, but focused and totally befits the album’s cover, like a night out boozing and drugging and running people over in an any-combination-of pink/midnight blue/purple Phoenix on the strip in Vice City.

Freddie Gibbs is definitely one of the best in the rap game right now. Some seriously believe he’s been possessed by 2pac or some cray shi like that. Voodoo. Listen to this.